Chapter 1
First Impressions: Wally
Wally West hated staying still. No, hate could not express the intensity of his dislike; it was more that he loathed stillness with every fibre of his being. This was hardly surprising considering that he was the one and only Kid Flash, fastest boy on earth. It was as Wally sat on a lumpy, uncomfortable armchair within the tastelessly decorated office of Central City High School's principal with his uncle, Barry Allen, that stillness once again got the better of him. Against his better judgment, Wally's mind once again began to wander. Unusually however, instead of thinking up new ways to avoid schoolwork or beat the snot out of Captain Cold, Wally found his mind wandering to thoughts of a snarky and sarcastic, pink haired girl who was taking up an increasing amount of his brainpower.
Wally was jarred out of his reverie by the principal's nasally voice addressing him. "…do you insist on consistently disturbing class, you receive excellent grades…Mr West, Mr West! Are you listening to me?"
"Of Course Ms Argyle!" Wally said hurriedly as he dragged himself back to the present.
"Oh really? Then can you tell me what we were just talking about?" enquired Ms Argyle, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Ah…we were discussing how good my grades are?" Wally guessed.
"Close Mr West, but unfortunately for you we were just talking about how easily distracted you are in class and how it impacts on those around you." Ms Argyle stated in clipped tones.
"Ah, about that Ms Argyle, well you see I can explain, really…" burst out Wally.
"No need to explain Wally" rumbled the deep baritone of Uncle Barry. "I think we all know that this is the result of a bad attitude towards what you obviously see as a waste of time. Don't worry Ms Argyle, I'll ensure that his attitude changes faster than you can say 'Flash."
"It had better Mr Allen, and don't worry I'll be keeping track." Stated Ms Argyle with finality. "I won't detain either of you any longer, good afternoon to the both of you."
"And good afternoon to you Ms Argyle." Intoned Uncle Barry as he and Wally left the office, the door closing firmly behind them with a muted thump.
The walk from the principal's office to the car was pure torture for Wally, his uncle walked at a measured pace down the halls forcing Wally to drop his normal, near jogging, pace to match his uncles. Wally nervously waited for his uncle to explode, but Uncle Barry just kept walking. By the time they got to the car Wally was near bursting with nervous energy, as soon as the door closed he turned to his uncle.
"Look, Uncle Barry, I can explain, I promise. If you just listen for a second…" Wally burst out.
"No Wally! You will wait until we get home and can discuss this with your aunt. Until we reach home you will reflect on why you are acting up in class and what you can do to fix it, you will do this quietly and you will do it without fidgeting!"
If the walk to the car had been painful for Wally, the drive home was hell itself. As with everything to do with Barry Allen when he was in his civilian identity nothing was rushed, he kept to the speed limit exactly and slowed at every orange light. It was only as they stopped in front of the fourth consecutive intersection that Wally finally lost it, he reached for the radio knob and tuned it to the local pop station. As he withdrew his hand, however he noticed that the music had stopped. Wally risking a glance at his uncle saw Barry looking completely unconcerned, as if nothing had happened. Cautiously, Wally once more reached for the radio knob hesitantly turning it, all the while carefully watching his uncle for any kind of reaction. When Uncle Barry did nothing to stop him and expressed no disapproval at his actions, Wally settled back into his seat listening happily to the music…, which had once again stopped.
This time Wally looked carefully at his uncle, searching his face for any sign of duplicity. Unsatisfied with the outcome of his search, Wally decided to try a little experiment. Taking several seconds to prepare himself, Wally carefully switched his gaze from his uncle to the knob of the radio. Quickly opening his body's connection to the Speed Force, Wally shot his right hand forward to the tuning knob quickly turning it before snatching his hand back; the entire action took less than a second with Wally carefully vibrating his entire arm to avoid a sonic boom. To any observer it would have looked as if Wally had twitched his hand, and yet, when the action was finished the radio not a sound emitted from the radio.
Now certain that, despite appearances, Uncle Barry was responsible for the radio's unusual behaviour, Wally steeled himself to try turning it on again. Once again, drawing on the Speed Force, Wally repeated the process he had tried earlier pouring even more energy into it. With the added power he poured into his movements an observer would not even have seen Wally move. It was therefore with considerable surprise that Wally realized not only was the radio still off but his hand, which had been moving faster than the speed of sound, had been caught half way back to its original position. Wally looked up to see his uncle giving him a hard glare.
"I thought I told you to sit quietly for the duration of the car ride," said Uncle Barry in a low, threatening tone. "If you think I've grown so old that I can't catch a young'un like you, then you're sadly mistaken."
Wally gulped and reminded himself just how terrifyingly fast his uncle could be when the mood found him. Wally secretly worried that he would never be able to compare with the speeds his uncle could reach, always wondering if he was worthy of taking on the role of The Flash.
The rest of the car ride passed quickly for Wally who spent the entire time staring at his uncle, now slightly perturbed. If Uncle Barry had reacted so strongly to a little thing like turning the radio on Wally could only imagine what his reaction to a marked drop in grades would be. Particularly considering the fact that the reason for his drop in grades was so trivial, not that Jinx was trivial, far from it; Wally didn't know how he'd ever lived without her… It was therefore with a healthy dose of trepidation that Wally realized his uncle's car was even now pulling into the driveway of their home.
As Uncle Barry led the way up the driveway towards the house, Wally trailed behind. It was rare that Wally wanted to do anything slowly but at this moment, he wished that the dreaded talk awaiting him within his homes usually comforting walls would never come. Unfortunately, he could see that his uncle, who had already reached the door, was becoming impatient with his lethargic pace. Afraid that any delay would only infuriate his normally calm uncle even more than he already was, Wally jogged up to the door and prepared himself for the storm to come.
As Uncle Barry pushed the door open, he called out to Wally's aunt. "Hey Iris, where home and I'm calling a family meeting to discuss the reason I was called in to meet with the principal of Wally's school."
"Ok tiger, I'll be there in a moment, I just need to finish this paragraph." Aunt Iris called from her study. Neither Wally nor his uncle objected to this as the both new better than to disagree with his Aunt Iris when her work as a reporter was involved.
"Go put your books away Wally, then come back to the living room and wait for you aunt." Whispered Uncle Barry as he crept into the kitchen, all trace of his previously forceful tone gone in deference to his wife's wishes.
After climbing the stairs to return his books to the decidedly unsteady pile atop his desk, Wally quickly changed into his Kid Flash costume. He carefully snuck down stairs again before padding down the hall as silently as possible in the hope of avoiding both his aunt and uncle. "Sorry Uncle Barry" Wally thought to himself as he gently eased the door open. "I'm sure that it's important for you to find out why my grades are dropping, but before I tell you I have to work it out for myself.
-Scene Change-
Kid Flash blurred through Central City, it was times like these, when he needed to think, that Wally truly appreciated the powers that Lady Luck had seen fit to bestow upon him. When he was running, it felt like nothing could stop him. His incredible metabolic rate allowing his senses to absorb twice as much in formation as a normal human's, when drawing on his full power Wally could feel time itself begin to slow down. The high he got from using his powers was unbelievable, and when combined with the extra time they bestowed upon him, always seemed to make his problems so much easier to deal with.
Already during his run, Wally had apprehended three wanted criminals, stopped two robberies and retrieved one cat from a tree, yet he still had not found the answer to his quandary. Why was he having so much trouble concentrating at school? True, he had never been a model student, but that was only because he had already covered most of the syllabus in his spare time. During all his time at school however, despite paying little attention, his own interest in research and natural ability to focus when required had always earned him good marks. So what had changed since then?
Still troubled by this, Kid Flash decided that patrol duty was not helping. He needed to test himself as he hadn't for over a month. Pouring on the speed Kid Flash accelerated past cars that, to him, looked as if they were standing still. Drawing even more of the Speed Force into his body, Kid Flash accelerated forward his previous attentive observation abandoned in the pursuit of pure speed. After sprinting past the Central City limits sign, Kid Flash shifted up a gear once more. Pushing his body to its very limit, he blitzed out across the desert, crossing state boundaries in an instant and leaving a trail of molten glass behind him.
As he ran, Kid Flash's thoughts cleared, crystallizing to a sharp point and allowing him to think clearly for the first time since he had covered for the Titans in JumpCity…Wait! It was after he had covered for the Titans that he had begun to have trouble thinking clearly. Maybe one of the villains he had arrested during his time there had done something to his head causing this unexplainable lack of concentration. Maybe that pink haired one. Jinx, wasn't it?
"Stop Wally, you're losing focus again." Kid Flash told himself. "Think this through logically, start from the beginning and run through events in sequence. Like a science experiment, how often have you performed science experiments?" He reassured himself. "Ok Wally you can do this."
After realizing when the problem began, Kid Flash mentally ran through his month in JumpCity carefully examining each event as he ran home at a far calmer pace than the one he left in. After half an hour of careful evaluation, Kid Flash concluded that his lack of focus began after his encounter with the HIVE 5 criminal group. Even with this new piece of information, however Kid Flash was no closer to solving the root problem, as none of the HIVE 5's members had an ability that would result in his symptoms.
As images of the HIVE 5's pretty leader once more drifted into his mind, Wally quietly chuckled at what Robin's immediate reaction to the predicament would be. He could see it now, after hearing the symptoms Robin would calmly say, "I'm sorry Kid but Raven's going to require access to you head, You've obviously been brainwashed." The sheer ridiculousness of Robin's imagined reaction almost sent Kid Flash crashing to the ground in a fit of laughter. Keeping his feet however, the answer suddenly came to him. It was ridiculous that any villain would go to so much effort just to make Kid Flash think about a girl. Oh God, he wondered in horror, I'm starting to think like Robin. He shuddered inwardly at the very idea, 'gotta remember to take things less seriously.' He thought to himself.
The answer to Kid Flash's imagined problem was so disturbingly simple it was hilarious. "I have a crush?" He asked himself, almost to see if the phrase fit. "Yes! Uncle Barry won't kill me now that I can explain myself!" He roared triumphantly to the empty desert.
"Oh, wait, I'm failing science…I'm so dead."
